Patterned tufted articles such as carpets have long been in use in commercial and home settings. It further has been known to form such patterned tufted articles with a variety of different pattern effects, including the use of cut and/or loop pile tufts, the formation of varying pile heights, and the use of different color yarns to form multi-colored graphic and other pattern designs. As styles and consumer preferences have changed, it has been important that newer and wider varieties of patterned carpets be developed to meet market demands. For example, carpet patterns with floral or other varying, free flowing designs have become increasingly popular in recent years, and while more traditional, geometric designs or patterns remain in demand, consumers are also looking for crisper or cleaner appearances in such pattern designs, including more precision or definition, and/or textures, such as patterns with intermixed cut and loop pile tufts. Systems have been developed that enable the formation of tufted carpets having free flowing and/or geometric patterns or designs having enhanced precision and repeatability in the patterns. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,141,505 and 8,359,989, assigned to Card-Monroe Corp., disclose systems for forming tufted carpets that can include multiple different colors formed in a wide variety of designs or patterns, and with substantially enhanced precision and clarity. Such systems, while providing much greater precision and control and enabling a more expansive array of pattern designs to be tufted, can, however, be more expensive than standard cut pile, loop pile, and/or cut/loop pile tufting machines that can form conventional graphics and/or geometric style patterns, but which may be limited in the types, designs and precision of patterns being formed thereby.
It therefore can be seen that a need exists for a system and method for forming tufted articles, such as carpets, that addresses the foregoing and other related and unrelated problems in the art.